Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

UK Farm to Fork Summit

Lord Benyon: My Right Honourable friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Thérèse Coffey) has made the following Statement.Today the Prime Minister and Defra Ministers will meet representatives from across the supply chain at the UK Farm to Fork Summit to discuss further opportunities to boost growth, innovation and sustainability in the food sector. The event will build on progress made since the government’s Food Strategy was published last year, in which we committed to broadly maintaining the current level of food we produce domestically while sustainably boosting production in sectors such as horticulture and seafood..  The government has set out new package of support for farmers to strengthen food security, boost trade and exports, unlock new technologies and support the long-term resilience and sustainability of the sector today.  The government will protect the interests of farmers by making sure they get a fair price for their produce. We are already using new powers under the Agriculture Act to improve transparency and contracts in the pork and dairy markets. We are now announcing additional reviews into the horticulture and egg supply chains, in light of the impact of global challenges on these sectors in particular. In addition, we have listened to feedback from the sector and we will not be merging the Groceries Code Adjudicator with the Competition and Markets Authority, in recognition of the importance of the Code and the Adjudicator in ensuring fairness in the UK food supply chain The government will unlock the benefits of innovative technologies to strengthen our food security, cementing the UK’s leadership in this field. We will invest up to £30 million to drive forward the use of precision breeding technologies. This will build on the £8 million already invested over the last five years and the passing of the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act earlier this year. We will also create a new working group – bringing together plant breeders, food manufacturers and retailers – to get produce from farms to the shelves. The horticulture sector is worth £5 billion across the UK and the government will support the industry to boost production. We will improve future support for horticulture by replacing the retained EU Fruit and Vegetable Producer Organisation Scheme when it closes in 2026 with an expanded offer as part of our new farming schemes. Given the important role that Controlled Environment Horticulture (CEH) plays in UK food production, the government will investigate what more can be done to support the sector. This will include assessing where sectors such as CEH struggle to provide the necessary data to qualify for current support the EII exemption scheme. At the UK Farm to Fork Summit we announced that:To increase domestic horticulture production and extend the growing season, the government will consider the unique needs of controlled environment horticulture, which includes glasshouses, in their development of industrial energy policies to allow this sector to benefit from decarbonisation and better access to renewables, including in the upcoming consultation on Phase 3 of the IETF in June.We will explore how we can increase the resource efficiency of the sector, and help to create a circular economy, by utilising industrial and power sector waste heat as a thermal source of energy for glasshouses and looking at options for co-location to improve energy efficiencies To ensure that farmers have access to the labour they need, the number of seasonal workers available in 2024 will again be 45,000 (plus 2,000 for poultry), an uplift of 15,000 compared to what was available to businesses at the start of 2022, with the potential for a further 10,000 visas should the demand be proven. We will build on this and set out an action plan for the horticulture sector in the Autumn, when we will also respond to the Labour review. Building on the Plan for Water announced last month, the government will accelerate work on water supply infrastructure, make abstraction licences more flexible, create national and regional Water Resource Management Plans and support farmer-led groups to identify local water resource schemes to support farmers with the access to water they need to be productive. The government will give farmers greater freedoms to make the best use of their existing agricultural buildings and support the wider rural economy, by launching a review of the planning barriers to farm diversification later this year.  This government will boost trade and export opportunities to get more British food on plates across the world, building on the £24 billion a year generated by our food and drink exports. Farmers’ interests will be put at the heart of trade policy through a new framework for trade negotiations, committing to protect the UK’s high food and welfare standards and prioritise new export opportunities. We will invest £2million to boost our programme of global trade shows and missions, provide £1.6 million for the GREAT food and drink campaign, and introduce five additional agri-food and drink attaches. We will extend funding to promote seafood exports around the world with an extra £1 million between 2025 and 2028 and create a new bespoke £1 million programme to help dairy businesses, particularly SMEs, to seize export opportunities, particularly in the Asia pacific region. Fulfilling the Prime Minister’s priority on economic growth, government will continue to work hand-in-hand with the industry to champion UK food and drink, both at home and abroad, helping more businesses to invest in domestic production and innovation.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Local Government Finance

Baroness Scott of Bybrook: My Honourable friend the Minister for Local Government and Building Safety (Lee Rowley MP) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement:Following the Local Government Finance Settlement statement made on 6 February 2023, I am today announcing a further £3 million in grant funding for 2023/24 to support 15 local authorities severely impacted by the increase in levies from Internal Drainage Boards. This increase is being driven by the unprecedented rise in energy costs that impact particularly energy intensive services including Internal Drainage Boards. As this has been an exceptional year for the rise in energy costs, this will be an exceptional one-off payment to help ease this additional financial burden on councils. The government will not provide additional grant to local authorities for these levies on an ongoing basis. Councils and Internal Drainage Boards should continue to take action to deliver efficient services and good value for money for the public.The 15 local authorities in scope are those whose Internal Drainage Board levies account for over 3% of their average Core Spending Power over 5 years. The allocations listed in the table below are based on 2023/24 Internal Drainage Board levy increases.Allocations of £3 million grant funding for increasing Internal Drainage Board leviesLocal authorityAllocation (£)Bassetlaw£181,977Boston£318,890East Cambridgeshire£104,160East Lindsey£927,373Fenland£177,281Folkestone and Hythe£32,043King's Lynn & West Norfolk£205,451Lincoln£141,926Newark & Sherwood£239,690North Kesteven£143,975North Norfolk£35,265South Holland£298,739South Kesteven£87,761Swale£41,388West Lindsey£64,082Total£3,000,000

Department for Business and Trade

Contingencies Fund Advance

The Earl of Minto: My Hon Friend the Minister for Enterprise, Markets and Small Business (Kevin Hollinrake MP) has today made the following statement.The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill will reform the operations of Companies House by setting out new objectives for the Registrar of Companies, including additional powers to query and amend the register where it is suspected that there is fraud or error, as well as scope to proactively share intelligence on criminal activity across government to combat economic crime. These provisions will help Companies House do more to tackle criminals, terrorists, and corruption, strengthening the UK’s reputation as a place where legitimate business can thrive, whilst driving dirty money out of the country. The legislation enables further investigation and enforcement activity to be undertaken against corporate entities. In readiness for this responsibility we propose to ensure Companies House has the right staff and systems in place to deliver the Registrar’s new powers. Parliamentary approval for additional resource of £425,000 and capital of £37,000 for this new service will be sought in a Main Estimate for the Department for Business and Trade. Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £462,000 will be met by repayable cash advances from the Contingencies Fund.

Home Office

Information Orders Code of Practice Consultation

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: My rt hon Friend the Minister of State for Security (Tom Tugendhat) has today made the following Written Ministerial Statement:The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) contains a comprehensive package of measures designed to make the recovery of unlawfully held assets more effective. The operation of certain powers within POCA are subject to guidance in various Codes of Practice issued by the Home Secretary, the Attorney General and the Advocate General for Northern Ireland, the Department of Justice Northern Ireland and Scottish Ministers. A new Code of Practice needs to be made to reflect possible changes made to POCA by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (ECCT Bill).[1] Subject to its commencement, the ECCT Bill will make amendments to Part 7 to POCA to create additional Information Order powers that will assist the National Crime Agency (NCA) with operational analysis of information that is relevant to money laundering or suspected money laundering and/or terrorist financing or suspected terrorist financing. It will also assist the NCA with strategic analysis identifying trends or patterns in the conduct of money laundering or terrorist financing, or systemic deficiencies or vulnerabilities which have been or are being likely to be, exploited for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing. For clarity, the title of ‘Further Information Orders’ in this part of POCA, will be replaced with ‘Information Orders’. It is also intended that the additional Information Order powers will be replicated in Part III to the Terrorism Act 2000 (TACT). POCA and TACT provide that before a Code of Practice is issued, I must consider any representations made, modify the Code as appropriate, and subsequently lay the Code before Parliament for approval. I am today launching a consultation on the following Code of Practice: Code of Practice issued under section 339ZL to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and section 22F to the Terrorism Act 2000 about certain Information Orders A copy of the consultation document and the draft Code of Practice will be placed in the libraries of both Houses and published on GOV.UK. Following this consultation, I intend to lay a statutory instrument to issue this Code of Practice under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) and the Terrorism Act 2000 (TACT) to reflect changes as a result of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill.  [1] This is subject to powers being inserted into POCA by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill being passed by Parliament and receiving Royal Assent